686
t Eph. iii 8," ἀνεξιχνίαστοι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ.
34. “τίς γὰρ ἔγνω νοῦν Κυρίου; ἢ
A a » a τίς σύμβουλος αὐτοῦ éyéveto;” 35. “Tis προέδωκεν. αὐτῷ, καὶ
an 352 ἀνταποδοθήσεται αὐτῷ;
εέ(ο have mercy upon” means ‘‘to make partakers of that ‘common salvation’ (Jude 3) which is emphatically a dis- pensation of mercy” (Gifford).
Ver, 33. ὢ βάθος πλούτου κ.τ.λ. In ver. 32 the content of the chapter is no doubt condensed, but it is more natural to regard the doxology as prompted by the view of God’s Providence which per- vades the whole discussion than by the one sentence in which it is summed up. βάθος: a universal figure for what is im- measurable or incalculable: cf. 1 Cor. ii. το, Apoc. ii. 24, Eph. iii. 18. The geni- tives πλούτον, σοφίας and γνώσεως are most simply construed as co-ordinate. For πλοῦτος used thus absolutely see Eph. iii. 8, Phil. iv. 19. Perhaps the key to the meaning here is to be found in x. 12; what Paul adores is the un- searchable wealth of love that enables God to meet and far more than meet the appalling necessities of the world; love less deep would soon be bankrupt at the task. In σοφία and γνῶσις the intellect- ual resources are brought into view with which God has ordered, disposed and controlled all the forces of the world and of man’s history so as to make them subservient to His love. The world, with its conflict of races, religions, pas- ‘sions and even vices, may seem to bea realm of chaos; but when we see it in the light of God as Paul did, we see the signs of wisdom and knowledge, of a conscious purpose transcending human thought, and calling forth adoring praise. For the distinction of σοφία and γνῶσις, which especially in relation to God is to be felt rather than defined, see Trench, N.T. Synonyms, § xxv. τὰ κρίµατα av- τοῦ: except 1 Cor. vi. 7 which is different, this is the only example of κρίµατα (plural) in the N.T. It is probably used not in the narrower sense (which would be illustrated by reference, ¢.g., to the “hardening” of Israel), but in the wider
sense of the Hebrew Ὀ ΟΡΟ”, το
which it often answers in the LXX. In Ps. xxxvi. 6 we have τὰ κρίµατά σου ἄβυσσος πολλή: where Cheyne’s note is, ‘‘ Thy judgments—in their various effects of destruction and salvation”’. This is Paul’s thought; hence τὰ κρί- ατα αὐτοῦ and ai ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ are prac-
36. ὅτι ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ δι αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτον τὰ πάντα ' αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.
ἀμήν.
tically the same. As Moses says (Deut. xxxli. 4), All His ways are judgment.
Ver. 34. Proof from Scripture of the unsearchableness of God’s ways: He has had no confidant. Isa. xl. 13, 1 Cor. ii. 16. It is mere pedantry to refer half the verse to σοφία and the other half to γνῶσις.
Ver. 35. ἢ τίς προέδωκεν αὐτῷ, καὶ ἀνταποδοθήσεται αὐτῷ; see Job xli. 11 (A.V.). The translation of Job xli. 3, Hebrew, is perhaps Paul’s own, as the LXX is entirely different and wrong. The point of the quotation has been variously explained. If it continues the proof of ver. 33, the underlying assump- tion is that God’s ways would be finite and comprehensible if they were deter- mined by what men had done, so as merely to requite that. It seems better, however, to read the words in the largest sense, and then they express the funda- mental truth of religion as Paul under- stood it—vzz., that the initiative in re- ligion belongs to God; or as he puts it elsewhere, that we have nothing we did not receive, and that boasting is excluded. The relation of man to God in these con- ditions is one which naturally expresses itself in doxology.